I try to eat healthy veggie-loaded meals 90% of the time, but sometimes I just need a cheat day!

On those cheat days, I usually crave some type of pasta, pizza or chocolate (black bean brownies, anyone?). Doesn’t everyone?!

Mac and cheese is one of my all time favorite foods but since I’ve been dairy-free, I can’t make my favorite butternut squash macaroni and cheese anymore. Make sure you check back next week for my new macaroni recipe that doesn’t have any dairy or butternut squash in it!

My trusty vegan basil pesto sauce recipe is one that I make often and it always hits the spot when I’m craving pasta! This recipe has no parmesan cheese, no nutritional yeast, and no expensive pine nuts. It’s 100% delicious with simple, inexpensive ingredients that you probably have in your pantry right now!

Toss your noodles in this extra creamy butternut squash spinach sauce, that’s ready in less than 30 minutes! It’s the best pasta sauce for fall!

We had a teeny-tiny cool front come by this week!

It was so nice out on Saturday, that I had my breakfast and coffee outside, while I planned out my recipes for the week. Since it was so nice and fall-ish out, I decided to stick to my butternut squash kick that I’ve been on.

This is my new favorite fall comfort food recipe! It’s packed with flavor, easy to make, and it’s ready in less than 30 minutes! Perfect for those busy days, when you don’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen but you need something that will hit the spot. The whole family will love this recipe!

How To Prepare A Butternut Squash

I took a few shortcuts too, which made this super simple to whip up in less than 30 minutes!

Option #1 – You could put the whole squash on a tray and pop it into the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Option #2 – You could use frozen organic butternut squash chunks.

Option #3 – You could use canned organic butternut squash puree.

I usually pick option #1, but this time, I used frozen butternut squash chunks because I had them in the freezer which means I didn’t have to make a trip to the store. Any of the three options would work for this recipe.

Butternut Squash Spinach Pasta Sauce

Besides how delicious it tastes, the best part of this sauce is how easy it is to make!

I like to let the stew cool down a bit before I put it in batches into the blender. I just don’t think hot ingredients mix with the plastic cup very well, plus I’ve heard horror stories that the heat makes the cup expand and blow up. I definitely don’t want to clean up that mess!

I use my NutriBulletblender to blend the sauce in batches. It works so fast and the sauce comes out perfectly creamy! You can also use an immersion blender or food processor for this step, but I highly recommend the NutriBullet because it does the job so quickly.

Can you see the sauce, and how it really clings to the noodle? I loveee that it’s on the thicker side because it coats the noodles so well. If you prefer a thinner sauce, add an extra 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the recipe.

The butternut squash alone can look bland so I thought the addition of the bright green spinach gave it a nice pop of color, don’t ya agree?

This post contains affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission (with no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase by using one of my links. I just like to share the products I actually use on a daily basis with my readers.

Mainly, because it’s really hard to get a reaction out of my fiance. Even if it’s his favorite food, he’s too busy inhaling what’s on his plate to really say anything about the food. When I first made this sauce and put it on his taco salad instead of just sour cream, he stopped eating and said, “Wow, this is the best sauce!” Then he dove back into his bowl and I didn’t hear anything else out of him until he was done eating dinner and started looking for dessert.